The present invention relates to a detection device, a learning device, a detection method, a learning method, an information storage device, and the like.
A narrow band imaging (NBI) technique applies narrow-band illumination light (that is easily absorbed by hemoglobin in blood) to tissue to enhance (highlight) the capillaries and the like within the surface of the mucous membrane (see JP-A-2011-224038). It is considered that the narrow band imaging technique can be used as an alternative to a dye-spraying observation technique that is widely used to finely observe (examine) the gullet, or observe the pit pattern (gland duct structure) of the large intestine, and contributes to an improvement in examination efficiency through a reduction in the examination time and the need to perform biopsy.
JP-A-2002-342758 discloses a technique that recognizes or extracts a specific area from an image using a learning process. Specifically, JP-A-2002-342758 discloses a process that learns (learns about) the extraction target area, and extracts a specific area from the input image using a parameter calculated by learning.
An identical feature that has been acquired as an image may show different characteristics depending on the distance from the imaging device to the object, due to a difference in illumination state, a difference in intensity, or the like. If the feature quantities that correspond to different characteristics are classified into an identical category, the learning data may show a large variation in feature quantity within the category. As a result, the determination accuracy (i.e., the accuracy of the learning result) and the detection accuracy may deteriorate. It may be possible to implement stable detection by acquiring distance information together with an image, and performing a detection process. JP-A-2002-342758 discloses a robot visual recognition system that utilizes an image and distance information. The system disclosed in JP-A-2002-342758 normalizes the acquired image using the distance, and performs a learning process and a recognition process. In JP-A-2002-342758, the size or the pattern fineness that differs depending on the distance is corrected using the distance information.